No. HE-01

Problem

HE-01 refers to the homepage as a whole but especially the lower 2/3rds of the page.

Explanation:

There seems to be four distinct elements/articles on the homepage, but no consistency in how they are structured and no single heading style to indicate where each piece begins

Severity or Benefit:

Rating: 2 – Minor, usability problem

Rationale: Users can still find and read the information, but not as quickly as if the structure was more consistent and obvious

Possible solution and/or Trade-offs:

Create a consistent H1 and/or H2 styles in the HTML or CSS and deploy them consistently to announce different or discrete content.

Relationships:

None

No. HE-2

Problem

Name: Inconsistent information regarding linking to social media

Evidence:

Heuristic: Consistency

Where: Homepage (upper right under “Home” Banner)

.

Explanation:

The area in which the user can make a “social network comment” is a little confusing because it is inconsistently structured. The label indicating the suggested action looks like regular content as opposed to text that is either a heading or an instruction. It is also indented for no apparent reason. Apparently, one can “like” the page on Facebook, but there is also something else that they can do on Facebook that has no label or instruction as to what that might be.

Severity or Benefit:

Rating: 3 – Major, usability

Rationale: To a more social media savvy audience, this is a minor problem, but to a fairly computer illiterate audience, which describes many potential users of this site, a lack of labeling or instruction could lead to incorrect use or no use at all.

Possible solution and/or Trade-offs:

Create a consistent H1 and/or H2 styles in the HTML or CSS and deploy them consistently to announce different or discrete content. Add labels consistently where multiple actions can occur.

Relationships:

None

No. HE-03 (Positive comment)

Problem

Name: Effective placement of Menu

Evidence:

Heuristic: Consistency

Where: Top of Homepage under the title “Ravens Nest No.1 of Harford County”

Explanation:

Nothing fancy and very simple straight forward, but the menu bar at the top of the Homepage is consistent and obvious in regards to not only the affordance of the click event, but also to what content will lie in wait upon completion of the click event.

Severity or Benefit:

Rating: NA

Rationale: NA

Possible solution and/or Trade-offs:

NA

Relationships:

None

No. HE-04 (Positive comment)

Problem

Name: Good feedback to indicate where the user is within the context of the entire site

Evidence:

Heuristic: Feedback

Where: Top of every page under the title “Ravens Nest No.1 of Harford County”

Explanation:

The title and menu bar are persistent at the top of the page no matter what page the user is on. Once a link in the menu bar is clicked feedback is immediate in that (1) the requested back loads quickly that (2) the current page is indicated by the menu item becoming grey. (The above capture displays the “Photo Gallery” page as an example.)

Severity or Benefit:

Rating: NA

Rationale: NA

Possible solution and/or Trade-offs:

NA

Relationships:

None

No. HE-05

Problem

Name: Links to certain information have no clear exit

Evidence:

Heuristic: Clearly Marked Exits

Where: Many links that lead to pdf attachments

.

Explanation:

On many subpages there are links that lead to “detail” pages that describe in greater depth the item represented by the link (The example above is from the “Events” page and a flyer that describes the recent Nest Bowling party.) When the user clicks on the detail page, there is no clear mechanism to return the user to the previous page or navigate directly to any other portion of the website

Severity or Benefit:

Rating: 2 – Minor, usability problem

Rationale: Users can work around this issue by using the “Back” browser button

Possible solution and/or Trade-offs:

Instead to the link opening to a pdf, have an HTML page with the same information and exit navigation. Then include a separate link in the event area on the Events page that will allow the user to download the pdf as an attachment if they wished to.

Relationships:

None

No. HE-06

Problem

Name: Redundant verbiage on the “Join Us” page

Evidence:

Heuristic: Simple and Natural Dialog

Where: The “Join Us” page, directly underneath the page header

.

Explanation:

There is about 100-200 words regarding rules for a prospective member in a single paragraph that are repeated on the application that they must download.

Severity or Benefit:

Rating: 2 – Minor, usability

Rationale: A potential member does not need to see this at the top of the page. It is a lot of text and kind of an authoritarian “downer” to what is supposed to be a fun and volunteer organization so it sets the wrong tone right from the very beginning. The information is important but is all on the application so unnecessary here

Possible solution and/or Trade-offs:

Eliminate the text and/or put the “New Member Registration” link at the top of the page. If the text must be included, it can be added underneath the link.

Relationships:

None

No. HE-07

Problem

Name: No Mechanism to “search” the website

Evidence:

Heuristic: Help & Documentation

Where: non-existent

Explanation:

The user has no means to search the website for contents that are not clearly marked by a menu item or link.

Severity or Benefit:

Rating: 4 – Critical, usability

Rationale: Ravens Nest No.1 of Harford County does much for the Harford Country community in terms of charitable works and donations as well as volunteerism. If a user knew of these activities and wanted to find out more, other than hunting a pecking, they would not know where to go to find the information and therefore, may just give up.

Possible solution and/or Trade-offs:

A control for a keyword search should be added to at least the homepage if not the top of every main page on the website..

Relationships:

None

No. HE-08

Problem

Name: Incomplete information in regards to who to contact on the “Contact Us” page

Evidence:

Heuristic: Feedback

Where: Contact Us page

.

Explanation:

If one wishes to contact an officer or particular chairperson of a Nest committee, there is no means of doing so. Even if the contact is general in nature there is no indication, if one filled out the above captured form for the “Contact Us” page, who would receive the request. There is confirmation that the message was sent, but no feedback as to whom it was sent to nor whether the sender should expecting a reply and when. There is no confirmation email to the sender’s address confirming that the message captured the correct email information.

Severity or Benefit:

Rating: 2 – Minor, usability

Rationale: This could be minor or major. The degree that this is an issue is dependent on the nature of the individual. Someone, with a personality like mine, for example, would feel unease without more detailed feedback. Did you get my message? Who exactly am I contacting? Did I type the correct email address and if not, how long do I wait to follow up with your before I try to contact you again?

Possible solution and/or Trade-offs:

A confirmation email should be sent automatically to the sender’s email address indicating who in the Nest has received the email and with some indication of the possible response they should expect to receive. The confirmation screen on the webpage should indicate that a confirmation email was send and to retry the request if that confirmation is not received within a specified amount of time.